[StBernard] Home Insurance On The Rebound, Donelon Says

[Westley Annis]

Home Insurance On The Rebound, Donelon Says
TheNewOrleansChannel.com
NEW ORLEANS - From companies refusing to write policies and dropping
coverage to others who pulled out of the state entirely, Hurricane Katrina
spun the homeowners insurance market into a full Category 5 crisis. But it
appears that relief is on the way, according to Insurance Commissioner Jim
Donelon. 

"State Farm has announced that they're going to start writing new businesses
below I-10 and I-12," he said. 

Other large national companies aren't to that point yet. But Donelon said
he's more optimistic about smaller, regional companies, of which several
have shown an interest in doing business. 

The strongest commitment, however, has come from unregulated international
firms, called surplus companies. 

"Once Halloween is here, we're pretty much out of the woods. Then, if we can
avoid another event, we will have two years behind us since Katrina, and
that will give much greater comfort to the industry to come back to our
market," Donelon said.